Charmaine Wilkerson is the author of the unforgettable Black Cake. In Good Dirt, Wilkerson's takes unique ability to blend genres and bring us a historical novel, a romance novel and a novel of literature and a bit of magical realism.

In Good Dirt, we meet the indomitable Ebby Freeman. A wealthy young African-American who is still grieving the death of her brother years ago. Left literally (actually) at the altar, Ebby is reeling from the disappointment and embarrassment and has made her way to France to regroup. As luck would have it, she ends up running into the very people she prefer to never see again.

Wilkerson weaves in the story of a very precious jar -a jar that the Freeman family considers precious and an artifact of the family's survival of slavery. The story of the jar and the history of the Freemans is told in alternating chapters and is quite gripping. As the story draws to a close it becomes clear that the jar and the event that framed Ebby's whole life are very much connected.

The themes of historical trauma, generational inheritance, and grief are strong in this beautiful book and Wilkerson does an excellent job of charming us all again!
#randomhouse #gooddirt #charmainewilderson

I downloaded Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson and I completely devoured it in two days. I love this story so much. Black Cake was the book that got me out of my reading slump last year. For some reason this story was so visual for me, I don't typically see full movies in my head but I did with this book. Ebby felt so real to me—the story, the stakes kept me intoxicated and interested from start to finish.

I absolutely loved this book and felt that I came away from it with more than just entertainment. I found myself thinking about the issues it raises long after I had finished reading. It also led me down a rabbit hole of broader research into pottery and history. The issues pf race and family relations are central to the plot and it is impossible to walk away from this book without pondering the state of race relations over time. But it is not a book which lectures or which is in any way performative in its analysis. This is a deep and thoughtful piece which covers important issues just as it entertains,

“Good Dirt,” Charmaine Wilkerson’s second novel, is a sweeping story about the history of a prominent New England African American family whose lives are forever changed when Baz Freeman, son of Soh and Ed Freeman and older brother to Ebby Freeman, is murdered in a home invasion robbery during which an heirloom jar produced by an ancestor over a century ago is destroyed. The story alternates in time from Baz and Ebby’s childhood, the events following his death, Ebby’s life as an adult dealing with her childhood trauma, as well as the family history beginning with an ancestor’s capture into slavery in the early 1800s, to their lives as slaves and eventual freedom, and migration to New England.

The book opens with Ebby in her late twenties being left at the alter by her white boyfriend, who comes from a wealthy, famous banking family. The media attention engendered by her public humiliation brings back the pain of the widespread press coverage that occurred after the murder of her brother, Baz, which continued throughout her life, her name forever linked with the family tragedy. Ebby deals with the newest trauma by fleeing to a small village in France where she becomes a caretaker for the property of a business associate turned friend. Here she tries to deal with both her past and present traumas, while trying to stay out of the limelight.

The novel does a great job of shedding light on the art of pottery produced by slave labor in the south, the suffering the slaves endured and their fight for freedom and safety. It’s also the history of one family’s rise to prominence and an old earthenware jug that defined and shaped that history. But mostly its about how each individual member of a family was impacted by the violent death of a family member, and how they each learned to cope with that loss.

Although at times the lengthy stretches of “telling” consisting of long narrations recounting different aspects of the family’s history could become somewhat tedious, the author’s prose style, the fascinating characters, and the compelling storyline compensated for this minor defect. This book is a worthy successor to her critically acclaimed debut novel, Black Cake.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me an ARC of the novel in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

A gorgeous, sweeping follow-up to BLACK CAKE! If anything, I might actually like this one better? Wilkerson has such a gift with characters, and delivers another stunning family epic that I couldn't put down. Five stars!

This book was so beautiful and wonderful, and a read I will recommend for ages. I couldn’t imagine this book topping Black Cake (by this author), but for me it did!!! I completely fell in love with Black Cake by this author when I read it last year, and this book has been no different!! Just a few chapters in, I can already feel love between the FMC and her family though they’ve gone through such great losses from the start of the book!!!

⭐️GOOD DIRT, out JAN 2025⭐️

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book!

This book does not disappoint!
A wonderful complex narrative centered around a family heirloom, a large pottery vase made by an enslaved ancestor.
Highly recommend.

Charmaine Wilkerson is becoming and automatic preorder for me. What a beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopefilled story. I think it showed how each member of a family can process trauma in completely different ways. I also loved the ending so incredibly much, what a moving display of family history and our main character truly coming into her full self.

I received a copy of the book "Good Dirt" by Charmaine Wilkerson from NetGalley. Good Dirt is seen through the eyes of many characters. I takes place over 200 years. The book surrounds the character over a 20 gallon jug that was made by hand in the 1800s. It has been in the family since then. the man who made the jug wrote a five word message in the jug that is kept secret for all those years. When the family who now has the jug has a horrible tragedy over the jug when a fifteen year old son "Baz" is murdered when crooks come into their home to steal the jug, the book goes over 200 years introducing characters that involve the jug that broke when the crooks tried to steal it. This jug is priceless to the family because it was made by a slave who was one of the families relatives. The book goes back and forth over the centuries showing the characters. it especially focuses on Ebby who was the little sister of Baz who was murdered in the home invasion. A good read. it spends a lot of time going back and forth across over 200 years. but the book comes together well. and yes we do find out what those five words were that was written way back in the 1800s.

Charmaine Wilkerson, the author of Black Cake, has again written a book that beautifully tells a story that reaches from the present to the past and then back again in so many meaningful and intertwining ways. The Freeman Family suffers a terrible family tragedy in their home in Connecticut and this book shows how they deal with their grief and their growth afterwards. Central to the story is a family heirloom with ties to several generations and which speaks of the determination and love of the family that has come before them and the family they continue to be. Wilkerson draws the reader in to the story but also brings you to inside the thoughts and feelings of the characters. This isn’t a book that reaches out and grabs you- it’s a book that gently but surely brings you into the lives of the characters and into the many relationships between the characters. The book is beautifully written and seamlessly moves between time periods, between characters and between locations. The only reason I did not give this a 5 star rating- I had a preference for the chapters that were written as stories about the previous generations more than I liked the chapters where current day characters were telling the stories for the prior generations. Minor detail, but sometimes interjecting the current day commentary into the lyrical tales of the past took me out of the time period and mindset. Overall, a wonderful book!
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Fabulous characters and writing! I knew I'd like this because I loved Black Cake, and I'm so glad that I got to read it. Amazing story that kept me engaged!

Thank you NetGalley and Charmaine Wilkerson!

I enjoyed the author’s first book, but this one, not so much. Was the loss of a young family member tragic? Of course. But reading about each family member’s internal angst on seemingly every other page over the course of twenty plus years? Too much for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this advance reader’s copy.

Powerful & deeply affecting.
Enveloping storytelling.
Richly drawn characters.
One of those rare books that you cannot wait to continue reading yet never want to end.
I was a big fan of Black Cake, but this story & its characters resonated even more and will stay with me.

With thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group for this e-ARC.

This was my most anticipated read for 2025 so far based on my love for Charmaine Wilkerson's book "Black Cake" and it did not disappoint. She is an incredible writer and her storytelling is beautiful. Ebby's story is full of loss, grief, family, resilience, and love. We experience her come to terms with the very public murder of her brother and the dissolution of her engagement. As she finds her way back to herself, we get great insight into her family and Ebby herself as she navigates the world. I loved this book. I devoured every page and cannot wait to read everything Wilkerson writes in the future. Thanks to Charmaine Wilkerson, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a chore to start. A crime that the h survived creates a mini celebrity of a her, she fights against that while in a relationship with a man that has a white family. There is an angle that deals with history heritage and ancestry. Seeing trauma through generations over time was compelling. This also says a lot about survival, healing, racism and mental health yet it’s not very exciting, it’s too repetitive and weighed down by too many things. One storyline could’ve sufficed in my opinion.

*Thank you C. Wilkerson and Ballantine Books for the, Good Dirt ARC.

Sigh! If you loved Black Cake this is must read story of resilience and a jar… And it works!

Good Dirt is all about the ups and downs of a family, who moves into a fancy white neighborhood and find themselves in the spotlight after a terrifying event— hard to even think of about! And just when things seem to calm down everything takes another turn!

Thanks for the early read and that cover! Yes!

This has been one of my favorite reads this year.Ms Wilkerson does a great job of weaving history and a past story through this delightful book.Love lost,strength gained,historical artifacts and so much more fill this book.
Read it from start to finish in one day!
Thankyou Netgalley for this ARC

5 stars!

This was a beautifully written tail of the impact of childhood trauma, the value of family heritage, and the stories left behind by our ancestors artifacts. One of the main characters is an earthenware jar made by an enslaved man. Sounds crazy, but it will all make sense when you read this artfully crafted novel.

4.5 stars. I loved Black Cake so I was very excited to get to review Good Dirt. This is a story of love and loss, how we handle trauma, and family dynamics. The Freeman family is a well to do black family still dealing with the loss of a child as well as a treasured artifact made by an enslaved potter and decorated by a family member with a phrase that encourages many through the years. At times sad yet uplifting.